Sewing machine attachment



NOV. 3, 1942. H|NMAN SEWING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Filed Sept. 4,1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 3, 1942. G. 1.. HINMANQ 2,300,921

SEWING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Filed Sept. 4, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 3, 1942 SEWING MACHINE ATTACHMENT George L. Hinman, New Haven, Conn, assignor to The Greist Manufacturing Company,

New

Haven, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application September 4, 1940, Serial No. 355,335

(Cl. 1l2--77) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to sewing machine attachments, and more particularly to a sewing machine attachment of the type usually employed for stitching buttonholes, for example.

The invention particularly relates to the feeding foot employed on attachments of this and similar character, and to the so-called cover plate used, when such attachments are employed, to cover the feeding mechanismon the sewing machine, as there is provided in such attachments mechanism to feed the cloth through the machine, and hence the regular feeding means of the sewing machine is not used. 7

In attachments of this kind, where the attachment comprises a feeding foot to engage the material being operated upon, it sometimes occurs that for any one of a number of reasons the feeding foot will not bear flatly upon the bed or throat plate of the machine, or upon a cover plate if one is employed to coverthe feeding mechanism of the machine. This may result from the fact that the plate itself is out of level,

or from any one of a number of reasons. Reardless of the cause, this condition will result in unsatisfactory operation of the attachment and considerable inconvenience to the operator.

When a cover plate is employed it is usually necessary to shim or pack this plate until it is supported from the bed of the sewing machine at' the proper angle, so that the feeding foot will lie flatly thereupon. This operation must, of course, be effected each time the attachment is placed upon the machine, and. is a somewhat difficult operation to do properly, particularly by a more or less inexperienced person.

It is contemplated by the present invention to provide a feeding foot on the attachment which has a rocking movement relatively to the attachment, so that it may adjust itself about an axis to the plane of the cover plate. This alone, however, may not be sufficient to bring about proper cooperation of the feeding foot and the cover plate, and the foot may need adjustment in another plane or about an axis transverse to that upon which it is mounted. This difliculty is overcome in the present structure by providing a cover plate which may be secured upon the bed of the sewing machine, so that it may also rock to adjust angularly the plane of its upper surface, and moreover may rock about an axis transverse to the axis upon which the feeding foot swings. Therefore, by providing the feeding foot with a rocking movement about one axis, and by providing that the cover plate which cooperates with the feeding foot may be rocked about a transverse axis, these two cooperating parts together enjoy a universal movement, so that the feeding foot may always adjust itself to lie flatly upon the cover plate.

One object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved cover plate to be employed with sewing machine attachments such as buttonhole attachments, for example.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a cover plate for the feeding mechanism of a sewing machine, which may be secured to the bed of the machine so that the plane of the upper surface of the plate will adjust itself to the cooperating partof the attachment.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a sewing machine attachment such as a buttonhole attachment, for example, provided with a feeding foot mounted to swing or rock about an axis on the attachment, and a cover plate secured to the bed of the machine to rock about an axis transverse tothe first, so that the feeding foot and cover plate may adjust themselves to make proper contact. a

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a sewing machine attachment having a feeding foot and a cover plate for the feeding mechanism of the sewing machine, such that the feeding foot and cover plate will have a universal movement to be self-adjusting to make proper surface contact.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved feeding foot for a sewing machine attachment.

To these and other ends the invention consists in thenovel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a sewing machine attachment embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the feed plate with the feeding foot attached thereto;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the parts shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan alone;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the cover plate and its attachment means;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 66 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of a modified form of cover plate; and

- Fig. 8 is a sectional view on line 88 of Fig. 7.

Toillustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings a sewing machine attachment in the form of a buttonhole-working device. As is usual in such view of the feeding foot devices, the attachment is adapted to be secured to the presser bar of a sewing machine, and the mechanism thereof is designed to be operated by the needle bar. A device for the purpose mentioned is usually provided with mechanism whereby the material will be fed forwardly past the sewing machine needle, and. at the same time move laterally in a zigzag path. When a certain point is reached, the feed is reversed, and the same zigzag stitch will be performed at the other side of the buttonhole. As the mechanism for producing the effect described above is not claimed in the present application, further description thereof is unnecessary, but it may be stated that the buttonhole attachment herein shown may be one of the type, for example, shown in Patent No. 1,903,671, granted April 11, 1933, to R. P. Hacket.

The attachment herein illustrated, and designated generally by the reference numeral H], is provided at its lower surface with a feed plate II, which feed plate is designed to move backwardly and forwardly as described. At its forward end the feed plate is provided with a pair of spaced parallel arms l2, to which is pivoted at l3 a feeding foot M. As illustrated, this feeding foot is a substantially rectangular member having an elongated opening H at its central portion through which the needle works to stitch the buttonhole.

As shown in Fig. 4, the lower surface of the feeding foot H4 is serrated or toothed, and it will be noted that the teeth are divided into four sections, a, b, c and d. These teeth are specially formed so as to hold the cloth stretched across the opening l5, and for this purpose are so shaped that they are inclined outwardly from the center opening. That is to say, the teeth in the section a incline toward the outside corner of this section, or away from the opening i5, and as illustrated this inclination is at an angle of 45. The teeth in the section b also incline outwardly from the center toward the upper left-hand corner of the feeding foot, as shown, and likewise the teeth of sections c and d incline outwardly toward the respective corners of these sections, so that the teeth of each section incline in a different direction, or at an angle of 45 from the central portion of the feeding foot. It has been found that when the teeth upon the lower surface of the feeding foot are so made, each section will tend to stretch the cloth toward the outer corner of that section, and it will, therefore, be stretched taut below the opening 15, so that the buttonhole stitching may be satisfactorily effected.

As the feed plate I l is designed to perform the feeding operation of the cloth, a cover plate is provided to cover up the usual feed mechanism of the sewing machine. This cover plate is designed to be attached to the bed of the sewing machine, and the plate and its attaching means are shown particularly in Figs. 5 and 6. The plate is provided with a body portion I3 having down-turned front and rear edges or flanges E9. Intermediate the ends of the plate small bosses 20 may be struck downwardly to bear upon the throat plate of the machine and support the cover plate thereon. These bosses are located substantially at the center line of the cover plate and provide a fulcrum about which the plate may rock. The body portion of the plate is also provided with a needle opening 2! through which the sewing machine needle operates.

An attaching member 22 is provided to secure the cover plate to the bed of the machine, this member being provided with an elongated slot 23 in which works a screw 26, which is designed to be received in a threaded opening in the machine bed in a well-known manner. Thus the cover plate may be adjusted according to the length of the slot 23 with respect to the position of the opening receiving the screw 24.

In the past the securing or attaching portions 22 of the usual cover plates have been rigidly secured to the body of the plate, and as both the plate and attaching members are relatively rigid, no automatic adjustment of the cover plate is provided. In the present instance, however, the cover plate is secured to the attaching member 22 by means of a thin highly flexible spring leaf 25, which may be secured to the attaching member and to the cover plate by rivets 26. This member is, as stated, quite flexible, and may be readily flexed or bent about an axis transverse to its length, or in the plane of the sheet of drawing, as shown in Fig. 5. As the attaching member 22 will be rigidly secured to the bed of the machine, this provides for the rocking or swinging of the cover plate l8 about an axis parallel to the longitudinal travel of the goods over the plate, as the direction of this travel is in the direction of the longitudinal dimension of the plate. It may, therefore, rock or swing by the flexing of the member 25, so as to properly adjust itself to the feeding foot.

As previously stated, the feeding foot is pivoted to the arms H2 at the points It, which provides for the rocking of this foot about an axis passing through these points. This axis is transverse to the length of the plate 18, as shown in Fig, l, and therefore transverse to the direction of travel of the goods past the attachment. As the feeding foot may, therefore, swing about a transverse axis, and as the cover plate may swing about a longitudinal axis (in each instance relatively to the direction of the travel of the goods) these two members together may be said to have a universal movement, in that one is permitted to rock about an axis transverse to that about which the other rocks. The members, therefore, may always adjust themselves so that the feeding foot will lie flatly on the cover plate and make proper contact therewith. The material being operated upon will, therefore, always be properly held in taut condition, and also be given the proper feeding movements.

The spring member 25 being, as stated, highly flexible, will also twist slightly to permit a fore and aft angular adjustment of the plane of the body portion l8 of the cover plate. As this movement is similar to that given the feeding foot, it will in most cases be incidental, but may in some instances serve to effect closer contact between the two members.

In Figs. 7 and 8 of the drawings is illustrated a cover plate having a universal movement or adjustment in that this plate is constructed for rocking movement about an axis longitudinally of the travel of the goods thereover, and also about an axis transverse to the direction of the travel of the goods. As illustrated this cover plate 38 is provided with a downwardly depending boss member 3i, this member being hollow and coinciding with the needle opening 32 so that the sewing machine needle passes through the opening in the boss. This boss, which is located intermediate the ends of the plate as well intermediate the sides thereof, serves to support the plate from the usual throat plate of the sewtudin'ally cf the plate.

ing machine, so that the cover plate may tilt about this point of support.

The plate 30 is secured to an attaching member 33 by a thin highly flexible leaf spring member 34, which member, due to its inherent resiliency, may flex about a transverse axis and may also twist about a longitudinal axis so as to allow the plate 35] to swing or tilt in a fore and aft direction about the boss 3|, as Well as to adjust the plane of its upper surface with respect to an axis extending in a direction longi- The attaching member 33 is provided with a slot 35 through which extends the usual attaching screw 36 to secure the cover plate to the bed. It may be noted that the flexible connecting member 34 in the present instance is disposed opposite the boss 3| so as to give the plate a free tilting movement about this boss,

While I have shown and described some preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a sewing machine attachment, a cover for the feed mechanism of the machine, means for securing the cover to the machine bed, and aflat highly flexible spring member connecting the cover to the securing means, said member being rigidly secured to both said cover and securing means and being secured to the cover at a side edge thereof intermediate the ends of the cover.

2. A feeding foot for a sewing machine attachment, said foot having inclined gripping teeth on its lower surface, and an opening through which the sewing machine needle operates, and said teeth being inclined generally at an angle of about 5 in each direction from said needle opening and toward the corners of said foot member.

3. In combination with a sewing machineattachment, a cover for the feed mechanism of the machine, means for securing the cover to the machine bed, a highly flexible flat spring member secured to the cover and to said securing means to connect the former to the latter, said cover and securing means being relatively rigid as compared to said member, and bosses provided on the lower surface of the cover to provide a rockable support therefor on the bed of the machine.

GEORGE L. HINMAN. 

